The Bench Man
by BloodlessResonance
Summary: There is always going to be somebody out there that would listen to your problems. And what better person than a dead one done with his?
1. Passing Through

_**July, Summer, 15 years old**_

'I'm so late.' The thought was running through her head, repeating itself like a bad mantra. She was late and she dreaded going home, already hearing the scolding and feeling the pleased smirks being shot behind her back. Her sneakers were soaked with water and the heavy rain didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. The umbrella she had was thrown into a trashcan angrily ages ago, the strong wind easily snapping it in half. The day had started normally and she was dressed for a summer walk in the park, not an autumn downpour. Her T-shirt and medium length jeans were sticking to her body, and the flimsy white jacket she was wearing didn't warm her up or shield her from the cold at all. She was walking on one of the main streets in her town but she took a sharp turn to the right and started to walk down a familiar path. She was walking closely to the wall, since the place was shielded from the rain because of the flats' roofs. The alley she was walking through looked ominous but it only calmed her down, and the rain's strong pattern above her sounded much better now that it wasn't hitting her directly.

When she walked out of the alley she turned to her left and quickly dashed for cover under the bus stop there. She was shivering uncontrollably from her soaked clothes and the biting wind. Even when she tried to rub her hands together for some warmth she only felt her numb fingers grow colder. Then, out of habit, she turned her head to the other side of the road and her eyes widened in disbelief behind her wet bangs. There he was. Sitting in the rain, hands in his black coat, hat tilted over his eyes and feet crossed together in a casual pose. Like he wasn't sitting on a bench _in the middle of a fucking downpour_. And he looked completely dry. The girl almost gritted her teeth when she realized that, because _he was on a fucking bench without cover_ , and not a hair looked out of place while she looked like a wet street rat. She huffed and pulled out a pair of earphones out of her jacket's pocket, put them on and let the music calm her down while she waited for the bus.

But it didn't come after 30 minutes, or after an hour. Her whole body was numb now, and she was twitching from the shivers that went through it. She had removed her earphones after the first 15 minutes, getting paranoid that she was going to miss the vehicle. The rain was still falling but it wasn't as bad as before, the thunder and lightning being more prominent. The thing that was pissing her off and creeping her out was the man on the bench. Even if she used the bus stop nearly every day and he always sat there, she didn't find it weird, thinking he had a schedule like hers, and she usually looked at him for about 5 or 10 minutes. Now though, when she actually had time to observe him a little more, even if the rain wasn't helping her, she noticed something disturbing. He hadn't moved an inch this whole time. Usually people would do something, _anything_ , even if it's just a shift of their posture but the cloaked man hadn't moved at all, and he still looked as dry as ever. Not even a drop of water on him.

She was startled out of her musings as a group of elementary kids ran on the opposite road, nearing the man's bench, their ruined umbrellas dangling from their hands. The kid at the front of the group was gripping a muddy football under his arm, and he suddenly slipped on the wet road, the ball flying towards the man on the bench. She was about to shout out to the man to watch out but the warning died in her throat before she even formed the first word.

 _ **The ball passed through the man's body.**_

She wanted to say she didn't scream, and for a few minutes she actually didn't. She watched the group of kids help their fallen friend. She watched as they went and picked up the ball that had fallen next to the bench. And then they just went away, without looking at the man on the bench, without apologizing to him ( _im sorry the ball went through you, mister_ ). _As if he wasn't there._ She could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she slowly turned her head back to the man. And this time, he had moved. He was looking up, and he was looking at _her_. But she could only focus on the part of his body that the ball went through. It reminded her of a few kids she had watched while she was walking through a park. They had been huddled up around a big puddle and one of the bigger kids was getting ready to throw a rock in the puddle. The calmness of the water had been ruined after that, small ripples disturbing the stillness. That's what that part of his body looked like. A calm that had been disturbed and one that was slowly patching itself up.

And then she looked at his face. She couldn't really see any defining features because it was still dark around her but the one thing she would never forget were his eyes. They were bloody red. She could have stared at them forever but then a flash of lightning followed by thunder snapped her out of her dazed state. The sudden noise seemed to bring all of her other senses back and suddenly the thought that she had seen a _ball pass through his body_ clicked in. Then she finally screamed. She screamed and she turned around and she ran. She ran back through her alley, her precious place. But for some reason the high walls and the narrow road only seemed to fuel her fear.

If she had turned back around, she would have seen curious red eyes following her until she was out of sight.


	2. Drunk Coldness

A/N: Hey there guys! So sorry this is so late, I was on vacation and when I came back, for some reason, I thought I had typed this chapter while I was away. But I had just written it in my notebook. Basically, I'm an idiot. Anyways, enjoy~

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 _ **November/Autumn/18 years old**_

She was thinking about the morning news. There was a report about a car crash, a murder and a protest happening in a nearby town. The weather was supposed to be good, if a bit windy. Then she thought about the song she was currently working on. The lyrics were almost done but she'll have to ask for help for the beat. Most of her ideas came spontaneously, and after she hurriedly wrote them down on whatever she could find, she had to actually put them in order. Then she thought about unicorns, video games she wanted to play, a new show on TV that seemed worth watching, cats and so on.

 _Anything_ to distract her from the people sitting next to her. She was sweating profusely and sitting as straight as a rod, head tilted down and eyes shifting to the bottles of beer on the table in front of her and to the untouched one in her own hands. Her stomach felt heavy, like someone had left a ton of bricks on it for a day, removed them, and left her to feel the after effects. Swallowing was hard, her throat felt dry and air was barely passing through. It felt like someone was choking her. She would have laughed at her own situation, if she wasn't such a mess of nerves.

She was in a night club with one of her "friends". Her mother had decided to throw her out of the house with the first available person she could find. And of course, one of her colleagues had come to visit, along with her daughter. It was a piece of cake to convince the other girl to take her along to god knows where. It's not like it mattered to her mother. Her colleague had been rather hesitant, probably knowing her daughter would go to a night club, but her mother hadn't even batted an eye. She was an actress, after all. So she acted. The colleague was convinced, and the door was shut in her face before she could realize what had happened. She was dragged to this place by the blonde girl, ( _Alex_ , her name was Alex) and seated at a table filled with unfamiliar faces.

She wanted to get out but Alex didn't seem like she was planning to leave anytime soon. The whole place felt suffocating, the smell of alcohol and sweat lingering in the air. She didn't belong here. A hand was suddenly on her thigh, and brown hair obscured her vision. The boy's eyes were glazed over from the alcohol in his system. He smirked. The hand moved upwards, and she sharply stood up. Alex was too intoxicated to hear her whispered excuse, before she walked (ran) to the bathroom. She opened the door and looked back. Nobody had followed her. Trembling, she quickly entered and closed the door behind her. Running to the first stall, she kneeled in front of the toilet, gripped the cold and dirty edges of the seat, and dumped her stomach's contents inside. She felt tears prickling the corners of her eyes but held them in. She couldn't break down like this. Not here.

Standing up on shaky legs, she flushed the toilet and walked over to one of the sinks. After removing the taste of puke from her mouth, she took a deep breath and looked in the mirror above the sink. Tired green eyes stared back at her. The bathroom door opened, and she pushed herself away from the sink, walking back to Alex's table. The girl was laughing like a maniac and swinging a bottle of half finished beer in her hand. She walked over, grabbed her hand and pulled. The blonde clumsily stood up and with her help, they managed to walk out of the club. The half empty bottle of beer was thrown in a trash can. The guard next to the building's entrance didn't even glance their way when they exited (he hadn't even asked for their IDs, what did she expect).

Alex started giggling once they had crossed to the other side of the street. She had just been wondering what they should do to get home, when the blonde moved away from her and walked over to one of the alleys, blonde hair glowing in the street lights. She was about to catch the drunk girl's wrist and pull her back to the main road but the blonde managed to move away in time and started walking down the dark path. She sighed and caught up with Alex, catching her before she could fall face first on the ground. She was about to pull her to the main road again, but hesitated. There should be a bus stop on the other side of this alley, and Alex was too drunk for them to use the longer path. Also, this way they wouldn't attract unwanted attention. She bit her lower lip, considering her options.

Swinging one of Alex's arms around her shoulder, she walked through the dark alley. Thank god the blonde wasn't a violent drunk, or this would have been way harder. While slowly walking through the alley because of Alex's state, she could feel her anxiety build up again.

Since she was practically kicked out of her house, she didn't have time to grab her phone. She would have to check Alex's purse and use hers to call a taxi if one didn't pass soon. It was too late to catch a bus, but she could let Alex sit on the bench there and clear her head a bit. She felt a shiver run down her spine, both from the cold night air and the dark road. Once they walked out of the alley, she let out a sigh of relief. No hands grabbing them from behind, no nothing. She turned around to check anyway but nothing happened. They were back on the main road again, and the bus stop should be on the other side of the street. She turned forward. A car passed by. And then she heard laughter.

'Shit.' Group of five guys. Drunk and coming from their left. Most people probably wouldn't even notice them. It's not like they had done anything (yet). But she was too stressed out and jumpy not to be aware of them. She wasn't really worried about herself. Her outfit wasn't anything special. Normal clothes for this season, no skin showing. Only her vibrant hair color could catch someone's attention, so if she was alone, she wouldn't have been worried (she wouldn't have been _out_ in the first place). But she wasn't. She had a pretty, skimpily dressed, drunk girl leaning on her shoulder. So she took a deep breath, and after looking for any cars, crossed to the other side of the road, the sound of her sneakers quiet compared to the loud clicking of Alex's heels.

A few cars passed by again. It was too late for any big traffic, let alone for people not going to a club to be walking outside. Suddenly, Alex pushed her away with an irritated expression, one a mother would give to a disobeying child.

"Hey, I don' remember agreein' to go home. Don' wanna go back when we were havin' so much fun. C'mon, let's go bac'!" Slurring, the blonde pulled her hand but she stayed firmly in place, making the drunk girl more irritated. A strong tug that surprised both of them had them falling on the ground in a heap of limbs. Alex started giggling but she ignored her, her attention shifting to the other side of the street. Another car passed. Hazy dark eyes met panicked green.

Then suddenly, she felt strangely cold. The guy squinted and looked away, catching up with his drunk friends. Alex had stopped giggling. She still felt cold, like her blood was gone and she was just an empty shell. Then, as quickly as it came, the coldness was gone and she felt like she could breathe again. She was about to check on Alex, when suddenly-

 _ **Red.**_

She froze. Red eyes stared straight at her. A pale hand retreated back inside a pocket.

'Deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale.' She repeated in her head between shaky breaths. She thought of a red ball. She thought of a rippling puddle of water.

' _Fucking breathe._ ' Shaking the images out of her head, she studied the man (ghost?) more closely. He had a really pale complexion and black hair that reminded her of a raven's feathers. He had two bangs framing the sides of his face, and the hair on the back of his neck was spiky, judging from what she could see under his hat. She remembered his pale hand and the cold (dead) feeling that had washed over her. Clearing her throat, she looked into his intimidating eyes.

"I don't how but...Did you help me back there? I'm sure the guy saw me and my, uh, friend, and yet...He walked away, like I wasn't... _here anymore_." She purposefully emphasized on the last part, and waited for the man's answer. She had almost given up and figured he couldn't talk, when a deep but soft voice answered her.

"I did help you." She waited for him to continue but when he didn't, she took another deep breath and asked her next (rather stupid) question.

"Are you a ghost?" A raised eyebrow was her answer, and she could swear a flash of amusement passed through his eyes.

"Maybe. Probably. Is this how ghosts look like?"

"I don't know, you're the first one I've _seen_." A second amused glance was shot her way. She was about to ask him something again, when what looked like a taxi caught her eye, and she quickly got up and signaled for the driver to stop. She laid Alex on the car's back seat, and sat next to her. After putting the blonde's head on her lap and explaining Alex's condition and her address to the driver, the car purred to life. She glanced back to the pale man, mouthed a "Thank you", and raised her hand in goodbye. He raised his back.

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A/N: Personally, I'm really happy with this thing for no real reason. Maybe it's because I'm posting it at 3 in the morning (sleep is for the weak bruh). R&R and cya in the next chapter~


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